Checks with 50 Apple retail stores have led one prominent analyst to predict Apple sold about 300,000 iPad 3G units, including preorders, over the device's first weekend of sales.

Gene Munster with Piper Jaffray issued a note to investors Sunday, revealing the estimate based on checks with numerous stores, as well as in-person attendance of the iPad 3G launch in New York and Minneapolis. If correct, Munster's assumption would have the iPad 3G sell as many units in its first weekend as the Wi-Fi-only iPad sold on its first day in early April.

Munster said supply was limited on launch weekend, with 49 of 50 stores surveyed sold out of the iPad 3G by Sunday. The analyst said he now believes Apple has sold more than 1 million iPads, which suggests his previous estimate of 1.3 million sales in the June quarter may be conservative.

The launch of the 3G-compatible iPad also helped sales of Wi-Fi-only iPads, with those models sold out at most Apple retail locations as well. Munster said he believes the sellouts are due to stronger-than-expected demand and lower-than-intended supply.

"Near-term, this may put downward pressure on launch day/weekend statistics, but long-term we see it as a positive, as consumers are definitely interested in the iPad as a new category," Munster wrote. "In the first several quarters, we believe Apple will sell about 60% wi-fi only iPads and 40% 3G models."

Though he admitted his estimate of 1.3 million sales for the quarter is likely conservative, Munster has not revised his estimate, citing uncertainty surrounding the 3G and international launches. Strong demand and short supply forced Apple to delay the launch of the iPad overseas until late May.

Retail checks after the Wi-Fi-only iPad's first day of sales in early April inspired the analyst to increase his forecast of first-day sales to between 600,000 and 700,000. That estimate proved to be too aggressive, as Apple quickly announced it had sold 300,000 on the device's first day, and topped 500,000 by the end of its first week.

Munster later conceded that he was too optimistic in his estimates, and revised his total 2010 iPad sales forecast to 4.3 million. The analyst continues to believe that Apple's latest product will be a success with strong consumer demand.

Last week, one online advertising firm said it believed that Apple had sold more than a million iPads since it launched on April 3. That estimate suggested Apple crossed the milestone before the 3G-capable iPad debuted.

Customers who preordered Apple's iPad received theirs in the mail on Friday, while Apple's U.S. retail stores began selling the device at 5 p.m. on Friday. The 3G iPad models carry a $130 premium over their Wi-Fi-only counterparts, and offer no-contract data plans with the AT&T 3G network. The 16GB iPad 3G model starts at $629, the 32GB capacity is $729, and the high-end 64GB offering is $829.

Went to 3 different APPLE stores on Sunday morning to buy a 3G IPAD and all3 stores were out of ALL WI-FI & 3G MODELS. Sounds crazy but seems like the demand is really strong.
I asked when they anticipated getting more in and they could only approximate. I was told to sign up for 'NOTIFY ME ' and they would email me when they received more

Great to see it doing well, but Im surprised: 3G seems like an important option to offer, but one few people would want. After all, WiFi is so ubiquitous (and fast, and free), and the iPhone is so much more portable (for those who want Internet any place, any time).

Its very nice that you can pay for the plan only when you need it, though.

Went to 3 different APPLE stores on Sunday morning to buy a 3G IPAD and all3 stores were out of ALL WI-FI & 3G MODELS. Sounds crazy but seems like the demand is really strong.
I asked when they anticipated getting more in and they could only approximate. I was told to sign up for 'NOTIFY ME ' and they would email me when they received more

Same thing happened to me Saturday. I've called every Apple Store and Best Buy in my state. They all sold out of the iPad 3G. Only Apple Store have WiFi only iPads. I signed up for "Notify Me" and they have told me they will get a shipment Tuesday or Wednesday. Last week I made the same calls looking for Wifi iPad and even Apple stores were sold out.

Great to see it doing well, but Im surprised: 3G seems like an important option to offer, but one few people would want. After all, WiFi is so ubiquitous (and fast, and free), and the iPhone is so much more portable (for those who want Internet any place, any time).

Its very nice that you can pay for the plan only when you need it, though.

I live in NY and wifi doesn't come easy. People have either learned to password protect their network or you have to pay a fee to use it similar to a situation like Starbucks. I think the future is eventually in using cellular data.

Two things that bother about the situation with AT&T is:

1. You have to have a separate plan with AT&T even if you already have an iPhone which is BS.

2. You're already paying for an unlimited data plan. While I'm sure that all of us US customers are used to getting screwed by carriers, I'm sure that it won't be the case in many places in the rest of the world.

I'd also like to know if it's AT&T or ABC that is limiting the ABC player to only wifi.

Great to see it doing well, but Im surprised: 3G seems like an important option to offer, but one few people would want. After all, WiFi is so ubiquitous (and fast, and free), and the iPhone is so much more portable (for those who want Internet any place, any time).

Its very nice that you can pay for the plan only when you need it, though.

It is not ubiquitous in the car or many non-restaurant stores. For those of us without the smart phone, the 3G gives us data at a very nice price point without a contract.

Those numbers may be conservative. My fedex guy told me they were inundated with ipads to ship on Friday. I must say I am a LOT more impressed with this device after having it for the weekend. It will be tough going back to Desktop browsing after using my iPad

I'd also like to know if it's AT&T or ABC that is limiting the ABC player to only wifi.

It is an ABC copyright issues not AT&T. NetFlex working fine as far as I know. I've read that the problem with video streaming through 3G is related to how they were originally down graded for the iPhones screen. When they are viewed on the iPads larger screen the downgrade effects are more visible and annoying.

1. You have to have a separate plan with AT&T even if you already have an iPhone which is BS.

That is why iPhone tethering would be so great... but once again, that falls in AT&Ts lap.

Anyone with an iPhone could get the iPad WiFi only and get 3G through the iPhone.
...althogh AT&T will likely charge an extra $30 a month for tethering... so it really wouldn't do much good in this case.

it's total BS that AT&T won't allow this. It's sad to see how device manufacturers are so crippled by the carriers.

Great to see it doing well, but Im surprised: 3G seems like an important option to offer, but one few people would want. After all, WiFi is so ubiquitous (and fast, and free), and the iPhone is so much more portable (for those who want Internet any place, any time).

Its very nice that you can pay for the plan only when you need it, though.

One benefit of the 3G models is the GPS that's included in the same chipset. It would be interesting if someone made a cradle for it to hang on in vehicles. Add some augmented reality and that would be the ultimate GPS.

That is why iPhone tethering would be so great... but once again, that falls in AT&Ts lap.

Anyone with an iPhone could get the iPad WiFi only and get 3G through the iPhone.
...althogh AT&T will likely charge an extra $30 a month for tethering... so it really wouldn't do much good in this case.

it's total BS that AT&T won't allow this. It's sad to see how device manufacturers are so crippled by the carriers.

Why is it that AT&T isn't allowed to charge you for a service they provide without it being "BS"?? With that attitude I'm surprised you aren't complaining because AT&T doesn't let you use their towers for free. You sound awefully entitled. AT&T has spent and will spend MILLIONS upgrading and maintaining their network, they have every right to charge us to use it - IMHO.

That is why iPhone tethering would be so great... but once again, that falls in AT&Ts lap.

Anyone with an iPhone could get the iPad WiFi only and get 3G through the iPhone.

Jailbreak + MiWi = Problem solved. I use it when I am on the road with no wifi and it works like a charm and no video degradation because the iPad sees my iPhone as a wifi hotspot. I have yet to scratch the 5gb barrier and really don't see that happening. Basic email and surfing use very little data. Netflix hover around 400-500mb so I do not do that much and ABC is around 200-300mb per episode. Not too bad.

Jailbreak + MiWi = Problem solved. I use it when I am on the road with no wifi and it works like a charm and no video degradation because the iPad sees my iPhone as a wifi hotspot. I have yet to scratch the 5gb barrier and really don't see that happening. Basic email and surfing use very little data. Netflix hover around 400-500mb so I do not do that much and ABC is around 200-300mb per episode. Not too bad.

AT&T iPhones Data plan does not have the 5GB limit. So don't worry about exceeding any limit

According to a poll I saw before launch, the Wifi 16GB and the 64GB 3G version were the two most popular choices people made.

To answer a posters question:

The apps are reportly downgrading (YouTube) or canceling (ABC) the video on iPad over 3G (over Wifi it works fine), not AT&T. Because the Netflix app runs normally.

Some simple logic:

ABC = Disney = Steve Jobs

YouTube = Google = Eric Schmidt

Eric + Steve = Best Buddies

Looks like Steve knows something is about to happen, Netflix is going to bare the brunt of the confrontation with AT&T over the excessive bandwidth issue. Eric has his ¨well we degraded the quality, we will degrade it some more¨ excuse already in place.

I tell you this as a Netflix using family, we soak that puppy so much that even Comcast high speed cable throttles us down.

1. You have to have a separate plan with AT&T even if you already have an iPhone which is BS.

2. You're already paying for an unlimited data plan. While I'm sure that all of us US customers are used to getting screwed by carriers, I'm sure that it won't be the case in many places in the rest of the world.

Those two bother me less than the fact that ATT will not let us use VoIP with the 3G iPad. I can understand their reluctance to do that with the iPhone, but it is really inexcusable with the iPad -- it's not like it is a substitute for a mobile phone that can fit in a pocket.

I could even live with their charging me a couple of cents per minute for such use......

Those two bother me less than the fact that ATT will not let us use VoIP with the 3G iPad. I can understand their reluctance to do that with the iPhone, but it is really inexcusable with the iPad -- it's not like it is a substitute for a mobile phone that can fit in a pocket.

I could even live with their charging me a couple of cents per minute for such use......

Stupid ATT.

I thought that was because Skype didn't enable 3G VOIP within their app!

So, are you suggesting that one can do VoIP over 3G with, say, Truphone or Vonage?

In any event, why would Skype not want to allow it? What do they have to lose?

VOIP over 3G works with iCall and Fring (through Skype) apps. Before Apple announced they would allow VOIP calls over 3G, Skype said that they already have a version ready to work over 3G and they would submit it once Apple allows it. Now Skype says they are want to get it right. My guess is that Verizon asked Skype to delay their iPhones VOIP 3G calling as part of the deal they signed few months ago.

Those numbers may be conservative. My fedex guy told me they were inundated with ipads to ship on Friday. I must say I am a LOT more impressed with this device after having it for the weekend. It will be tough going back to Desktop browsing after using my iPad

Yeah, me too.... it's, er, ah, kinda' magic!

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"Swift generally gets you to the right way much quicker." - auxio -

"The perfect [birth]day -- A little playtime, a good poop, and a long nap." - Tomato Greeting Cards -

Here in Australia the iPads on Apple's site went from "Coming late April" to "Coming late May" at least now there is a pre order date 10/5/2010 or as you whacky Americans put it 5/10/2010.

I never understood why dates were written that way outside the U.S. I know this is completely off-topic, but i couldn't resist! I mean, when you speak the date, you say "May 10th", not "10th of May", so why would you write it differently?

Well, I can just say that I had a good time waiting in line Friday. I rarely do that, but decided to this time. We bought ours at the 14thSt store in NYC. Last time, when we got the 3G, the line was on 14th st. this time the line was on 9th Ave, which was good, because the day was warm, with nary a cloud in the sky, and waiting 3 hours in the sun wouldn't have been as much fun.

There was a guy in his twenties first in line. He got there at 8:30. The next guy, older, was there from 1:00, and another, a German fellow who had a plane back home that night at 9:30 came at 1:30. So I was forth. My wife arrived at 4:20. That's fair, she waited on line in the early morning to get our names in for the 3G.

We all had a good time talking, and the line straggled longer until about 3:30 when it really began to fill up. Estimates were that almost 300 people had queued up.

At about 4:30 a young woman from the store came out and asked us which machine we were buying. She didn't take names, so I guess she was just making sure they had stock.

When 5:00 hit, they all started applauding, and being annoying, as they do with events. They had a lot of extra personnel coming in for this. They counted us as we went in, and when we finally got upstairs, past their gauntlet, we got a person to help us.

It went pretty fast, and we bought Apple's case, which is better than you might think. I had thought it was fairly bulky from the web pics, but a guy came by our line and asked if we were on line for the 3G, whereupon, he took his WiFi model out, and handed it to us so we could get the feel of it with the Apple case. That was what made my decision to buy that.

What was amusing was that out of the bunch of people who asked what the line was for, and we told them, a couple of those people got on it!!!

My wife needed a new trackball, so we got that, and he asked us if we needed a stylus, as I told him I bought Sketchbook Pro. I was surprised they sell the Pogo, but they do. I guess Apple isn't as rigid about a stylus as we may suppose. He suggested a pink one so it would be easier to see. Uh, well, no! I took the silver. If my daughter saw I had a pink one, I'd never live it down. She'd NEVER use pink. That's for, umm, girls, you know?

Anyway. We finally walked out over $1,000 poorer. Boy, Apple can just suck it out of you, know what I mean? And then you're happy they did. I'm so pleased I've got a lot of stock, as I'll be getting it all back.

I have to say though, It's really a great machine. Now I suppose my daughter will want one when she gets back from school.

I never understood why dates were written that way outside the U.S. I know this is completely off-topic, but i couldn't resist! I mean, when you speak the date, you say "May 10th", not "10th of May", so why would you write it differently?

I never understood why dates were written that way outside the U.S. I know this is completely off-topic, but i couldn't resist! I mean, when you speak the date, you say "May 10th", not "10th of May", so why would you write it differently?

[QUOTE=melg
.............
Anyway. We finally walked out over $1,000 poorer. Boy, Apple can just suck it out of you, know what I mean? And then you're happy they did. I'm so pleased I've got a lot of stock, as I'll be getting it all back.

I have to say though, It's really a great machine. Now I suppose my daughter will want one when she gets back from school.[/QUOTE]

I never understood why dates were written that way outside the U.S. I know this is completely off-topic, but i couldn't resist! I mean, when you speak the date, you say "May 10th", not "10th of May", so why would you write it differently?

Cinco de Mayo!

... Cuba Libre!

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"Swift generally gets you to the right way much quicker." - auxio -

"The perfect [birth]day -- A little playtime, a good poop, and a long nap." - Tomato Greeting Cards -

Anyway. We finally walked out over $1,000 poorer. Boy, Apple can just suck it out of you, know what I mean? And then you're happy they did. I'm so pleased I've got a lot of stock, as I'll be getting it all back.

Yeah, isn't that the sweetest feeling? I gave my WiFi to my daughter and my granddaughter will get one in June when she graduates middle school...

When the stock hits $300, I'll buy iPads for my 2 grandsons ( I have some $17 shares that will fill the bill).

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"Swift generally gets you to the right way much quicker." - auxio -

"The perfect [birth]day -- A little playtime, a good poop, and a long nap." - Tomato Greeting Cards -

It went pretty fast, and we bought Apple's case, which is better than you might think. I had thought it was fairly bulky from the web pics, but a guy came by our line and asked if we were on line for the 3G, whereupon, he took his WiFi model out, and handed it to us so we could get the feel of it with the Apple case. That was what made my decision to buy that.

Yes, The Apple case is great. In addition to the normal stuff, it works very well for one-handed use and cushions any drops on the edges or corners... comes in any color, as long as it is black

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"Swift generally gets you to the right way much quicker." - auxio -

"The perfect [birth]day -- A little playtime, a good poop, and a long nap." - Tomato Greeting Cards -